Richer or poorer

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

 RICHER OR POORER

Prov 21:17

17 He who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich.

NIV

Many might have a bottle of wine and a bottle oil in the pantry and that certainly is not going to make a person poor. Yet it was more customary in the time of Solomon for people to attend banquets and the host would anoint his guest with what then was called an unguent or fine oil. The cost of which was worth three hundred days wages of the common working class person who harvested fields. We are seeing here the love of a life of luxury being shown opposite the love of God. This goes hand in glove with the scripture which tells us we cannot love God and money. It is impossible to love both. True riches are in Christ, those who seek after the wealth, the pleasures of this would will never gain the wealth of eternal life. Which would we rather have flowing from us, wine and oil or springs of living water? Although a person might have great material wealth if they do not have Jesus as their first priority, they are poor and naked.

Rev 3:17-18

17 You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

NIV

It is not that God desires us to be impoverished. He certainly has told us he would provide all our needs, all we need to do is ask and believe, not doubt. If we doubt we are like the double-minded man and we can expect nothing from God.

James 1:4-8

 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

NIV

This double-mindedness is saying we trust God to provide, but we look to our own resources for security. James is specifically speaking about wisdom here, which speaks directly opposite to our spending great monetary amounts to gain what we think is knowledge that will yield us something in return. When all we need is to ask God for wisdom which will yield a far greater return. Yet the principle is the same. Jesus tells us to ask anything in his name and the Father will give it to us.

John 14:12-14

2 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name , so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name , and I will do it.

NIV

So who should we put our trust in? Should we seek after the pleasures of the world or the pleasures of God? We cannot do both, it is inconsistent with the teachings of Christ. We cannot desire the pleasures the world has to offer without being wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. Do believers think storing up wealth is good stewardship? That also is inconsistent with the teachings of Jesus. How can we tread so close to the ideologies of the world and think we are pleasing to God? The only poor which is good is to be poor in spirit. Knowing God is our all in all, he is the only source of both eternal life and the life we live in the here and now. Nothing else truly matters. Let us always be about seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. He will take care of adding all the other stuff.